About the Farm
French Farms is a small farm located in the Redland, South Floridas historic agricultural neighborhood. While the farm has hopped around since its foundation in 2013 it is currently sharing a magical 5 acre parcel with its longtime collaborators and pals, Little River Cooperative. The farms are nestled in the Castellow Hammock, a 112 acre preserve and one of the last remaining parcels of native Hammock in the Redlands.
French Farms has used regenerative agricultural principles to grow veggies on a small scale for the South Florida marketplace for 10 years. You can find French Farms' produce at your favorite restaurants like Mandolin Aegean Bistro, Old Greg's Pizza, Pinch, Paradis Books & Bread, Zak the Baker, Maty's, Verde at the PAMM, Proper Sausage, or you may have bought his produce at the French Farms market booth at the Legion Park Farmers Market in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Miami.
French Farms is more of a soil farm than a vegetable farm if you ask farmer Chris French. He and his team focus on regenerative farming practices and on the health of soil life, soil biodiversity, and soil building techniques like cover cropping, crop rotation & on site composting to grow nutrient dense vegetables for his community. While French Farms is not certified organic it uses all OMRI listed and certified inputs, like germination mix, fertilizer & pesticides.
Traditional western European veggie crops like carrots, radishes, lettuce, tomatoes & peas are grown from fall through winter into spring here in South Florida. Thats completely reversed from the rest of the country! Growing with the seasons instead of against them is key to growing flavorful vegetables in hot climates so that the vegetables who are supposed to store sugars when its chilly get to do that (carrots) and the vegetables who get stressed and mature early when its too hot out don't become bitter (lettuce).
French Farms is just starting its 3rd season offering its unique CSA program, "The Salad Share" to the community! The salad share grew out of the closures of the farmers market in 2020 due to Covid 19, when it allowed the farm to sell its produce in a way that was convenient & safe for his customers despite the changes in the city. The Salad Share is a CSA share that has salad greens, which French Farms is famous for growing, at its base. Members receive a bag of lettuce, gem romaine heads or arugula every week, and the rest of the share is a diverse mix of veggies, root crops, herbs, and tropical fruit, all of which would be good salad ingredients. Members sign up for the Salad Share in the summer and then receive 20 weeks of boxes from October - April.
2023-2024 crop list:
Greens:
gem romaine lettuces
salanova butter & oakleaf lettuce
muir salad bowl lettuce
cherokee red salad bowl lettuce
red butter lettuce heads
baby arugula
baby mustard salad mix
escarole endive
frisee endive
raddichio
purslane
lacinato & rainbow kale
spigariello
baby boi choi
green & purple napa cabbage
Veggies:
slicing & pickling cucumbers
sungold & other mixed cherry tomatoes
multicolored carrots
fennel bulb
kohlrabi
fioretto sprouting cauliflower
butternut squash
red and golden beets
magda & zephyr summer squash
Edible Flowers:
nasturtiums
clitoria peavine flowers
marigolds
cilantro flowers
dill flowers
african blue basil flowers
Salad herbs:
dill
cilantro
bronze fennel
parsley
assorted basils
tarragon
chives
mint
roselle
Cut Flowers:
mix of sunflowers
mix of zinnias
gomphrena
green mist ammi
